Tuesday, 22 December 2009

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - ET, The Extra Terrestrial Trailer Analysis


I have decided to analyse this trailer because it is an old film and it is interesting to see how times have changed, and stayed similar, in the way in which the film trailer uses different techniques to attract a large target audience.

In ET they have a narrator telling the audience what to expect, whereas now the film trailers tend to have more music influence and captions, with lots of fast, quickly editted shots montaged together, to create excitement and intrigue.
This trailer starts of with a voice over narrating the previous film that Steven Spielberg has directed. This may entice the audience who have enjoyed his previous work. Whilst the narrator is naming these films, there are clips of outer space, flying through the stars, and towards the earth. As he announces the name of Steven Spielberg’s new film ‘ET, The Extra Terrestrial’, there is a clip of a spaceship landing on earth in the dark night.

There is then a series of short clips from the film, as the narrator tells the audience what they will encounter throughout this film. These clips show all the different elements of the film, which can appeal to a large audience. There are clips of the action, surprise, and mystery, leaving the audience intrigued as to what has landed on earth from an alien planet and befriend a little boy called ‘Elliot’. We never see the extra terrestrial that has landed, so the audience are kept interested in what it may be and will see the film in the cinema. Throughout this series of clips the music is very dramatic, with an orchestra playing, and emphasises the storyline very well, as it changes to match the mood of these short clips. After the last clip, it fades to black and the very iconic theme tune starts. This theme tune is now recognised all over the world as it has become very famous, and linked to ET.
The credits appear on screen telling the audience which studio produced this film ‘Universal Pictures’. This is in small, simple, white font, so it is easy to read next to a black background. Then the title of the film appears in large, blue font, ‘ET’ and, ‘The extra Terrestrial’ underneath. Then the final credits appear and dissolve off screen as the music comes to an end.

Overall, I think this trailer is effective as they leave the extra terrestrial as a surprise, we never see him, only shadows or part of his hand, with his long fingures. There is lots of shots showing the action and friendship which occurs between the alien and the young boy.

Here is the link on YouTube :



By Nikki Stock

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